Gov. Bruce Rauner started off the new year swinging, offering vague criticism of Mayor Rahm Emanuel over his handling of police-involved shootings and vowing to sign legislation that would allow voters to recall Chicago mayors in the unlikely event the measure reaches his desk.

Rauner also renewed his stance that Chicago Public Schools should not expect financial relief from the state to prevent teacher layoffs unless Emanuel helps push through the Republican governor's agenda to weaken labor union rights and prop up the business community.

The governor's comments came at a news conference in Oak Brook to unveil a plan drafted by Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti to try to consolidate the state's vast network of government units, which the administration has blamed in part for Illinois' high property tax rates.

Asked for his assessment of Emanuel's performance in office, given the school system's money woes and the continued fallout after police-involved shootings, Rauner said his longtime friend and former business associate "inherited a mess" but has done little in the way to overhaul how the city operates.

The governor declined to get into specifics regarding the Chicago Police Department, citing an ongoing federal civil rights investigation, but did offer a broad criticism of Emanuel and Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, who is seeking re-election in the March Democratic primary.

"I am very disappointed in the mayor and the state's attorney of Cook County, very disappointed," Rauner said. "I am not going to say more than that right now."

The newly appointed head of the Independent Police Review Authority on Monday acknowledged two issues that the agency needs to improve on: transparency and showing it's truly independent of the Chicago Police Department and City Hall.

Sharon Fairley, a former federal prosecutor tapped last month...

(Jeremy Gorner)

Rauner said he would sign legislation that's been introduced to allow voters to recall the city's mayor, but noted his attorneys determined the bill would not apply to Emanuel's current term but only mayors elected in the future. Regardless, the measure is unlikely to gain much momentum in the Democrat-controlled General Assembly.

Despite his tough words on Emanuel, Rauner again called on the mayor to help shepherd his agenda through the legislature. It's not the first time Rauner has tied the issues together as Emanuel and school officials look to place the blame on Springfield for teacher layoffs if the state doesn't offer assistance.

"If Chicago is either opposing reform for the state, which so far they are, or staying silent and letting the speaker block reform ... no, I am sorry, we are not doing things to help the city of Chicago," Rauner said Monday.

Democratic Senate President John Cullerton is pushing legislation that would freeze property taxes for two years and give Chicago Public Schools about $200 million in pension relief. The plan also seeks to overhaul the state's complex education funding formula and allow CPS to levy a tax to pay for teacher pensions.

Gov. Bruce Rauner on Thursday weighed in on the political firestorm that has erupted around the deadly shooting of an African-American teen by a Chicago police officer last year, saying the recently released video of the incident brought him to tears and raised questions about the city's delayed...

(Kim Geiger)

The measure has passed the Senate, but has stalled in the House. Rauner supports a different plan to freeze property taxes statewide.

An Emanuel spokesman argued the governor was using Chicago schoolchildren as "pawns" and contended the mayor has been working to bring about a larger budget agreement. The mayor's office did not provide details, however.

"We're a little surprised given that at the governor's own request our team has been actively involved in trying to untangle the logjam in Springfield," mayoral spokesman Adam Collins said. "It's unfortunate that yet again (CPS students) are being used as pawns in a political chess match."

Still, Rauner shows no signs of backing away from his proposals. Even the report on government consolidation from Sanguinetti trumpets many of the same ideas to restrict collective bargaining, do away with the prevailing wage for workers and enact tougher standards to compensate employees hurt on the job.

A Cullerton spokeswoman said the inclusion of those issues, which were featured in a section of the report about unfunded mandates on local governments, amounted to poison pills that could doom efforts to reduce the number of government units in Illinois.

Ideas on that front included allowing voters to pass a referendum to consolidate or dissolve units of government, removing a cap that limits townships to 125 square miles so larger areas can consolidate, and allowing the State Board of Education to combine school districts. The report also called for a four-year moratorium on establishing new units of government, which happened in a new law that went into effect Friday.

"The Senate president has always been supportive of measures to consolidate local governments. The bills are tough to pass even in the purest form," Cullerton spokeswoman Rikeesha Phelon said. "Recommendations that include anti-union poison pills make passage nearly impossible."